Bishop of Shanghai: with thanks to the Pope in 2008 we will celebrate 400 years of Catholic faithby Justin QiangIn his pastoral letter Msgr . Jin Luxian, thanks missionaries for their religious and cultural commitment to China and asks the faithful to be evangelisers of the city and not “to let the Pope down”: in fact on May 24th, as set out by the pontiff, a Day of Prayer for the Church and China will be celebrated, centred on the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Sheshan, a short distance from the metropolis.

Debating Disaster: The World Is Not EnoughThomas Homer-Dixon, Michael T. Klare, Sherri W. Goodman, Paul J. Kern and David G. Victor, The National Interest In the last issue of The National Interest, David Victor argued that the threat of resource wars is overplayed and overblown. To recap:

RISING ENERGY prices and mounting concerns about environmental depletion have animated fears that the world may be headed for a spate of “resource wars”-hot conflicts triggered by a struggle to grab valuable resources. Such fears come in many stripes, but the threat industry has sounded the alarm bells especially loudly in three areas. First is the rise of China ...

Now we hear from Victor’s critics, Thomas Homer-Dixon, Michael Klare, Sherri Goodman and Paul Kern. they tackle him on everything, from climate change to the impact of oil shortages and the mass spread of disease. Victor has the last word.

Survival tools — farming, stories, poetry, writing, and leaningShepherd Bliss, Energy BulletinI sense that we are approaching a tipping point, so I decided to re-embed myself within institutions to have more contact with people and resources to help make a transition to whatever we can create to thrive during the changing times.

Medicine at the crossroads of energy and climate changeDan Bednarz, Ph.D. and Kristin Bradford, M.D., M.P.H., Energy BulletinIf medicine would regard peak oil as likely to occur within 12 years, in line with most predictions, then it will choose strategies which automatically address climate change as well. If the health care industry fails to lead, it will suffer the draconian consequences of having ignored the driving forces of the opening decades of the 21st century.

Apparently Fr. Smith is no longer at St Mary's, but at St. Peter's. Some homilies from St. Mary's are available in podcast. I just sent an email inquiring about the DVD to St. Mary's. I'll let you know what the response is.

"On January 29th, 2008 the Church celebrates the feast of St. Francis de Sales, Doctor of the Universal Church, Bishop, founder of the Visitation Order (of which St. Margaret Mary was a member), patron of Journalists, co-patron of the Diocese of Oakland and of the Institute of Christ the King. In preparation for this joyful event we will pray a novena, starting on the 20th of January and ending on January 28th, after the Mass celebrated in the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite. During the Masses we will receive guest homilists who will teach us about the "Doctor of Charity", who led so many souls to sanctity, so that we may be well prepared for this beautiful feast of our patron. We are especially grateful and honored that His Excellency, Bishop Vigneron, will be with us during Mass on the 23rd of January 2008 at 6:00 pm to preach about ³St. Francis de Sales as co-patron of the Diocese of Oakland². Other priests who will talk in the homilies about St. Francis during this important novena are Fr. R. Schenk O.P., Fr. A. Ramelow O.P., Fr. L. Goode, Fr. W. Young and the Vice-Provincial of the Institute of Christ the King in the United States, Fr. K. Lenhardt. Please come and pray with us to our beloved patron!

The location of this event is St. Margaret Mary Church in Oakland, California, 1219Excelsior Ave. For further information contact father.wiener@institute-christ-king.org or telephone 510-482-2053.

TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES will debut one week early...tonight...via a streaming presentation at Yahoo Television.CLICK HERE TO JUMP TO THE SITE!!!Click "TERMINATOR SNEAK PEEK" on the sidebar, and it'll tell you what you need to know to watch the show.

GHOSTS IN THE EVOLUTIONARY MACHINERYby Steve TalbottSome biologists believe they can learn fundamental truths about life by creating computerized models that supposedly “compete for resources” and even “evolve.” But what kind of lessons about living things can we really learn from these abstractions, disembodied as they are and devoid of all context? Steve Talbott considers the limitations of digital organisms.

THE EVANGELICAL ECOLOGISTby S. M. HutchensIn his book The Creation, E. O. Wilson attempts to persuade evangelical Christians that they have a religious obligation to preserve the diversity of life on Earth. But, as S. M. Hutchens points out, Wilson downplays the fundamental differences between the Christian understanding of the natural world and that of the Earth-worshipping environmentalists.

Sarge, here's a photo of your actress:"Set in 1957, the new film pits Indy against Russian Cold Warriors, including Cate Blanchett, whose character, Agent Spalko, looks like the toughest Soviet customer since Lotte Lenya’s Rosa Klebb took on Sean Connery in From Russia with Love."

Snow pasturesGene Logsdon, Organic To BeFor many years I have had an impossible dream for which I give credit to both my now deceased friend, Bob Evans, who made a fortune with a chain of restaurants, and to the American Plains buffalo. Both believed fervently that animals could thrive on year-round grazing, come hell, high water or snow, without any soil cultivation for grains at all. published January 2, 2008.

What's new at the tar sands?Dave Cohen, ASPO-USA / Energy BulletinIt behooves us to keep track of what's going on at the tar sands in so far as the "official" story now states that well-being of the world's most voracious oil consumer depends on steadily rising synthetic crude output. A close look reveals that all is not well along the Athabasca River.

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 1, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered Sunday, the feast of the Holy Family, before reciting the midday Angelus with several thousand people gathered in St. Peter's Square.

* * *

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

Today we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family. Following the narration of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, we stop to look at Jesus, Mary and Joseph, we look with adoration on the mystery of a God that chose to be born of a woman, the holy Virgin, and to enter this world by a path common to all men. In this way he sanctified the reality of the family, filling it with divine grace and fully revealing his vocation and mission.

The Second Vatican Council paid special attention to the family. The spouses, it affirmed, are for each other and their children witnesses of the faith and love of Christ (cf. "Lumen Gentium," No. 35). The Christian family participates in this way in the prophetic vocation of the Church: With its manner of living, "The Christian family loudly proclaims both the present virtues of the kingdom of God and the hope of a blessed life to come" (ibid.).

As my venerable predecessor Pope John Paul II repeated untiringly, the good of the person and of society is intimately linked to the "good health" of the family (cf. "Gaudium et Spes," No. 47). Because they are words of the council, the Church is committed to the defense and promotion of the "the natural dignity of the married state and the superlative value" of marriage and the family (ibid.).

With this end in mind, an important initiative is being celebrated today in Madrid. I will address those participants now in Spanish.

Greetings to the participants in the family encounter that is taking place this Sunday in Madrid, as well as to those cardinals, bishops and priests that accompany them.

Upon contemplating the mystery of the Son of God that came into the world surrounded by the affection of Mary and Joseph, I invite all Christian families to experience the loving presence of the Lord in their lives. I encourage them, inspired by love of Christ for all mankind, to give witness before the world of the beauty of human love, marriage and family. This, founded in the dissoluble union between a man and a woman, constitutes the privileged environment in which human life is welcomed and protected, from its beginning until its natural end.

For this, parents have the right and fundamental obligation to educate their children, in the faith and in the values that dignify human existence. It is worth it to work for the family and marriage because it is worth it to work for the human being, the most valuable being created by God.

I direct myself in a special way to the children, so that they love and pray for their parents and brothers and sisters; to the young people, so that stimulated by the love of their parents, they follow with generosity their own vocation to marriage, the priesthood or religious life; to the elderly and the sick, so that they find the help and understanding they need. And to you, beloved spouses, count on the grace of God always, so that your love will be always more and more fruitful and faithful.

In the hands of Mary, "who with her 'yes' opened the door of our world to God" ("Spe Salvi"), I place the results of this celebration. Thank you very much and happy holidays.

[Translation by Karna Swanson]

[After the Angelus, the Pope greeted the people in several languages. In English, he said:]

I offer a warm welcome to the English-speaking visitors gathered for this Angelus prayer. Today, in the heart of the Christmas season, the Church celebrates the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. May the mystery of God's love, made incarnate in the Child Jesus and reflected in the home of Mary and Joseph in Nazareth, dwell in your hearts and in your families throughout the coming year. Upon all of you I invoke an abundance of Christmas joy and peace!

Liberals may think that they are being enlightened and non-sectarian when they change from AD (Anno Domini) to CE (Common Era), but aren't isn't this sort of change another instance of Western post-Christian cultural imperialism? At least with Christ at the reference it is universal. But CE is common only because of fiat, accepted and used only because of the economic and cultural power of the West. If we abandon Christ as the universal reference point for all peoples, then why should non-Westerns continue to follow the "new" Western dating of years?